Brown algae threatens fishing, may be killing wildlife in lagoons

"It's very worrisome," said one fishing guide. "The largest estuary on the East Coast is dying and there seems to be no emergency action."

DINAH VOYLES PULVERENVIRONMENT WRITER

OAK HILL – On a good day, Dave Brown used to skim his boat over the water in Mosquito Lagoon watching sunlight play over the sand and sea grass beds below and easily catch the limit of redfish and trout during his guided trips. Lately, Brown and his fishing clients don't see many good days. Instead, his boat motors through water the color of split-pea soup, clouded by a harmful brown algae bloom. In some areas, he's lucky to see the bottom. Fish are harder to find. Sea grass beds are shrinking. Manatees, dolphins, pelicans and other animals are dying of unexplained causes. So far the death toll since late last summer has reached 111 manatees, 38 dolphins and more than 250 pelicans. Dozens of guides and fishermen that make their living in Mosquito Lagoon and larger, neighboring Indian River Lagoon can still fish, said Brown, a guide for more than 30 years. "But it's not like it used to be." The fishermen fear for the lagoons, their own livelihoods and the local economy. "It's very worrisome," said Brown. "The largest estuary on the East Coast is dying and there seems to be no emergency action." In April, just about the same time the latest bloom appeared, the St. Johns River Water Management District committed up to $3.7 million to research a bloom of the same algae species that occurred last year and a toxic algal bloom that occurred in 2011. Working with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and several universities and independent research organizations, district officials say they are preparing to launch a major research project within the next month or so to look at the troubling issues in the lagoons.Answers can't come soon enough for the fishermen. If the brown tide lingers and sea grass and fish continue to disappear, the fishermen and others fear it will wreak disaster on the local economy, leaving oyster bars and clam farmers, recreational and commercial fishermen, boat builders and all of their bait and equipment suppliers in trouble. "It could have a huge compounding effect," said Ken Hooper, former Edgewater city manager. A "tremendous amount of money" flows through the local economy because of the fishing industry, said Hooper, while fishing with Brown this week. Until last summer, a bloom of this algae species — Aureoumbra lagunensis — had occurred in only one other location in the United States, the Laguna Madre in Texas. It bloomed there in 1990 and continued uninterrupted for eight years, finally subsiding after 18 inches of rainfall from a tropical storm flushed out the system. But it has continued to appear sporadically ever since. "We may be experiencing the same situation," said Troy Rice, director of the water district's Indian River Lagoon National Estuary program. "We may have this species in the lagoon for years to come. The blooms and intensities may ebb and flow over time but I think it may be here for a while."

PROBLEMS BUILD OVER DECADES

The Indian River Lagoon system – an interconnected system of three lagoons and several rivers and streams – fringes the east coast of Florida, stretching 156 miles from Ponce de Leon Inlet south to Jupiter Inlet. It has been called one of the world's most diverse estuaries, a place where fresh and salt waters mix to provide a massive breeding ground and nursery for nearshore and offshore sea life. Sea turtles, sawfish, grouper, tarpon, birds and many other species either pass through the system at some point or spend their entire lives there. All that wildlife helps the lagoon generate an annual economic impact of $3.7 billion a year, Rice said. Other problems have occurred in the lagoons over the past couple of decades, such as water quality issues, fish kills and dolphin die-offs, but nothing of the magnitude of the brown tide. The district and state Department of Environmental Protection have worked for years and spent millions to reverse historic damage to the sea grass beds from pollution, development and boat traffic. Sea grass is important because it provides food and shelter for myriad species. Researchers believe a set of natural and man-made factors probably came together to trigger the latest trouble. They began after severe freezes in January and December of 2010. At the same time, an ongoing drought meant little fresh water flowed into the lagoons. Gradually the salt content of the water grew higher. In 2011, a toxic algae bloom appeared across 130,000 acres of the lagoon, killing roughly 60 percent of the sea grass, about 47,000 acres. Then it went away. The brown tide first appeared last July, blocking sunlight, killing more sea grass and triggering fish kills. At the same time, manatees, pelicans and dolphins began turning up dead of unexplained causes. Eventually the bloom broke up, leaving fishermen and officials hopeful it would not reappear. But the creeping brown bloom showed up again on April 8 and 9 at Duck's Roost Point in the northern tip of the Indian River Lagoon, Rice said. It quickly covered the northern end of the lagoon and spread eastward through Haulover Canal into Mosquito Lagoon. "There are places when the wind blows in a certain direction it cleans up the water, but it's still as green as Mountain Dew," Brown said this week. But then sometimes the water is like coffee with cream, he said "You literally can't stick your elbow into the water and see your hand." So far, it hasn't reached the intensity it did last summer, but Rice said they'll have to wait and see what develops.

NEW DIET MAY KILL MANATEES

Biologists don't know why they've seen an increased number of animal deaths and haven't linked the deaths directly to the brown tide. At least 250 manatees have died in Brevard County since last July, more than the number that died in all of 2010 and 2011 combined. At least 111 of those were from the same cause, a sudden shock killing animals that otherwise appeared fat and healthy, but with macroalgae plants in their stomachs rather than sea grass. The wildlife commission is working with NOAA and the Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute to examine the animals to look for answers, said Martine de Wit, a commission veterinarian. "The brown tide isn't toxic to manatees," de Wit said, but if it causes a decline in sea grass and because of that manatees are shifting to other food, then it would be related. The officials also are looking at an unexplained increase in deaths of other animals, such as dolphins and pelicans, in the same locations where the manatees have been dying, the northern end of the Indian River Lagoon. The 38 dolphins found dead in the last six months in the lagoon are at least 14 more than during any December-May period in the last decade, according to statistics from the National Marine Fisheries Service. Unlike the manatees, the dolphins and pelicans were emaciated.

THEORIES, FRUSTRATION ABOUND

While officials and researchers work to figure out what's going on, why it's happening and whether anything can be done to control it, the fishermen and others are left to ponder their own theories. For example, fishermen and clam farmers wonder if a decade-long district project to undo a network of old mosquito ditches and impoundments around the lagoon contributed by allowing dirt or pollution from old spoil ditches and water from old canals to flow into the lagoon. A clam farmer recently sued the district and the county claiming sediment from the work had killed his clams. District officials don't think the work is the cause of the brown tide bloom or the clam farmers' troubles. The difficulties are found throughout the lagoon system and "did not originate in the area of the district's activities," said Stan Niego, senior assistant general counsel. Fishermen and local environmentalists also have wondered about stormwater runoff from yards, loaded with fertilizers and pesticides, saying the bloom seemed to start after the first big rain on April 14. Rice pointed out the bloom had already been discovered six days earlier. While stormwater runoff contributes to overall water quality problems, state officials said no research has linked this brown tide species with poor water quality. It's "upsetting" to fishing guide Brian Clancy that so many scientists and technical people who say they are concerned don't seem to have answers. "It doesn't give me a lot of confidence," Clancy said. Whatever the cause, Brown says the brown tide is changing the lagoon he has known his entire life. While elected and chamber of commerce officials across the region have rallied to try to bring a commercial spaceport to a Southern Volusia, Brown said the fishermen have grown more frustrated because they'd like to see similar action by community leaders to explore what is wrong in the lagoons. Brown hopes the officials figure out what it means and more importantly what to do about it. "Otherwise," he said, "you could be looking at the death of the lagoon."

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